


Smoke Signals

by lancefalconer



Category: Persona 4
Genre: Alternate Universe - Post-Canon, Emotional Constipation, M/M, Reunions, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-18
Updated: 2017-12-18
Packaged: 2019-02-16 18:23:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,372
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13059582
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lancefalconer/pseuds/lancefalconer
Summary: Years later, Souji comes back to Japan. Some things stay the same, and some things really don't.





	Smoke Signals

**Author's Note:**

  * For [HerrApollo](https://archiveofourown.org/users/HerrApollo/gifts).



> This is a birthday gift for the Yosuke of my life, my friend and the best guy I know. I love you forever buddy, and I hope you like this. 
> 
> This will be updated. Will add an end chapter when I figure out how long it's gonna be. Shout out to all the souyo fics out there in the world, it's been a long time coming but I'm ready to join you. 
> 
> Title from the [song of the same name by Phoebe Bridgers](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAKg267JgBE).
> 
> Also a note: I know this messes with the official timeline and I don't care, pretend it's okay! This fic largely follows the rule of: I Do What I Want.

**** Souji pulled his scarf against his neck in an attempt to block out the wind. 

“Uh-huh. I’m fine, I told you.” He said into his phone. His mother’s concerned face looked back at him. 

“You seem sick.” She said with a frown.

Souji laughed a little. “I’m  _ cold _ ! I promise I’m settling in well.”

She tutted at him. “If you say so. Be good.”

“I will.” Souji smiled. “Tell dad hello from me. I love you.”

She ended the call and Souji paused at the edge of the sidewalk before pocketing his phone.

It was his second day back in Tokyo in four years. He was trying not to feel apprehensive about it, but after four years of being out of the country there was something so familiar and refreshing about the bustle of the city. 

The café he was headed towards was a bit of a journey from his new apartment, but it was one that he used to frequent in high school. What it lacked in finesse it made up for in ambience, and something in Souji yearned for that old familiarity.

Within a few minutes he had spotted it, jogging a little to make it inside. The door chime was still the same, and it made Souji smile.

There were a decent amount of people around, as was typical for the beginning of the semester. Souji tried not to notice how young they all looked. He wondered if he looked ancient to them. 

“What can I get for you today?” The barista asked him. Souji blinked, not realizing that he’d come up to the front of the line so soon.

“Um. Just a large matcha tea latte, please.” 

He paid quickly and then stepped to the side, checking his phone. He didn’t have anything scheduled properly until tomorrow, when he’d be meeting his advisor. He’d unpacked already, something that was easy to do when you just didn’t have much stuff. He supposed he should go out and buy groceries, later. Making himself food was always Souji’s way of feeling at home in new surroundings. 

“Here’s your latte, sir.” The barista called from behind him.

Souji turned around to grab his drink, thanking him. 

He spotted an empty table by the door and headed over there. The draft would probably be annoying, but for some reason it seemed like the best course of action to sit and relax for a while before heading out into the city again.

He sat and gingerly began to sip his drink. Some of the people milling around seemed to be leaving.  

Bright laughter erupted from the counter, where a customer was seemingly flirting with the barista. Souji smiled. Her long brown pigtails reminded him of someone. 

It had been far too long since he’d talked to anyone from Inaba properly. He looked back on that year with great fondness, but it had been years since then. And then the longer it had been since he’d talked with anyone, the harder it was to jump back in. His memories were fading, too -- he knew that they’d all done something important, life-changing maybe, but for the life of him he couldn’t remember the specifics. Any time he tried to delve deeper, he just remembered that fog, ever-present and dangerous. 

Dojima and Nanako had come to visit him at school, once. He had been happy to see the two finally a family again. Glad to see Dojima had broken away from work. He’d made sure to keep in contact with his uncle, as well. He tried to call once a month or so to talk to Nanako at least. She was still so sweet, and Souji hoped she’d retain that once she became a teenager. 

The girl at the counter turned around, pulling down her face mask to take a sip of her drink. Souji felt his breath stop -- he’d know that face anywhere.

Five years hadn’t done much to Rise Kujikawa. She still had the kind of good looks that made you stop in the street to stare. He knew from their phone calls back in his third year of high school that she’d tried to be an idol again, only to quit halfway through the year. But after that, the distance had taken its toll on their friendship. He had no idea what she was doing now. 

She was heading towards the door, and Souji panicked, raising his hand. 

“Rise..?” He said quietly. 

She turned to him, her expression clouded with judgment before a look of complete shock took over.

“Senpai?” She asked. People jostled behind her to get at the door, but she didn’t seem to notice.

Souji nodded, feeling self conscious. 

Rise continued to stare at him, and Souji was starting to worry -- until Rise abruptly burst into tears.

“Oh my god, Souji, is that really you?” She sobbed, lunging to embrace Souji.

Souji held her close, unsure what to do.

“Nobody knew what had happened to you! I thought you’d  _ died!  _ Or well -- I don’t know!” She continued. 

The two of them were undoubtedly making a scene, but Souji continued to hold her, rubbing her back now. 

After a few more moments of muffled crying, Rise pulled back, clambering awkwardly out of Souji’s lap and taking the seat across from him.

“I’m really sorry about that. It’s good to see you.” Souji said solemnly, adjusting his glasses. Seeing her here, in person . . . He felt awful. 

Rise sniffled, and Souji wordlessly handed her a napkin.

“You too, obviously. Oh my god, I never imagined. . . But you’re here. You’re real.” The way that she looked at him took him back to high school all over again. 

“I’m real.” He smiled, unsure what else to say.

Rise stood there, just staring for a few moments. Souji didn’t want to interrupt her, but couldn’t quite read any of the expressions going across her face. 

Suddenly, her phone beeped, breaking her reverie. She glanced at her phone and then stood up.

“Shoot, oh my god, I really have to go. I’m running SO late to a meeting.” Souji nodded. Of course, she was busy, he shouldn’t have expected everything to go back to how it was. Rise had been one of his closest friends for a time, but it had been years now and he should have known.

As if she could read his thoughts, Rise went in for one more brief hug. 

“I can’t just leave like this.” She said breathlessly. She pulled back again. “Oh! What are you doing tonight? You have to come and say hi to -- Yosuke’s here! With me! Oh my god, he’s going to FLIP out! It’s a birthday party, but you can be my plus one?” 

Souji blinked, and then nodded. 

Rise smiled brightly, tears seemingly forgotten. “Great! Give me your number.”

Souji handed her his phone, and watched as she typed frantically. 

“It’s so good to see you.” She said, done typing but still looking at his phone. She handed it back to him and then looked up at him so fondly that Souji felt his face heat up. 

“This is. . . talk about fate, right? Come tonight, I’ll text you details. We have a LOT to catch up on.”

Souji laughed at that, and smiled as she left. 

 

***

 

Souji left the café shortly after that. He found himself in a kind of a daze as he went to the grocery store. He hadn’t even realized what it was that he’d bought until he’d arrived back to his apartment and unloaded a bag of entirely condiments into the empty fridge.

The rest of the apartment was empty, too. Souji had opted for a furnished one-bedroom, but their idea of furnishing was just a single couch and end table. Souji hadn’t been comfortable with TVs since Inaba, for reasons that he didn’t quite understand -- so he’d been okay with the lack of one included. But it definitely gave the room an empty feeling. He felt like he ought to get some art on the wall, but Souji hadn’t ever really had an eye for that sort of thing. 

In his bedroom, at least, he had a couple of photos clumsily displayed on his bedside table. A recent photo of Souji with his parents, from when he’d graduated. Nanako’s school portraits from the last couple of years, lined up in a row so Souji could see how she’d grown. The old investigation team when Souji had come back to visit. Yukiko’s hair up, Kanji’s godawful comb-over, Naoto in short sleeves, and Yosuke --

There was the issue, and what Souji had been trying to avoid thinking about. Yosuke was  _ here _ . Souji was going to see him again.

He had left Inaba sure that Yosuke and he could maintain some sort of long distance friendship. After all, he’d never had a friend like Yosuke before. And Yosuke felt the same, or at least he’d said so. 

It was easy for a while, and the two of them texted frequently. Souji tried to make time for his old friends, even amidst the sea of college prep work -- but midway through the year he’d just gotten busy and never gotten un-busy. And there were only so many unanswered texts that Yosuke could send before his messages became less frequent. 

Souji understood that, he did. But the more time lapsed, the worse he’d felt. And then he’d moved to America, and well, the time difference alone had all but killed his relationships with everyone but the most persistent.

He’d all but accepted the end of that part of his life. So to have it all show up again. . . Souji didn’t know what to think. 

Rise had texted him almost immediately and constantly since they’d parted ways. Souji supposed this was a good thing, because now there was no way he could back out of meeting up with her later. Once Rise decided something, it had always been very difficult not to do what she wanted. That hadn’t seemed to have changed. 

He was meeting her at an apartment near where the cafe was. He needed to catch the train soon if he wanted to get there on time. Thoughts were swirling around his head, but Souji forced himself not to think of any of that. Point A to point B only. 

Within an hour, Souji was standing outside of the place, small bouquet of flowers in hand. He didn’t know whose birthday it was, only that it would have been rude to come without a gift. He already felt like he was crashing a party. 

He glanced back at his text thread with Rise. With some apprehension, he entered the building code that she’d texted him, and slowly rode the elevator up. The party was on the fifth floor of a beautiful highrise. 

After making a couple of wrong turns, he found himself at the door. Souji took a deep breath and knocked. 

A man with short bleach blonde hair opened the door wide, only looking slightly put out by Souji.

“Hi,” Souji said nervously. “I’m here for Rise?” 

At this, the guy let out a smile. “Oh, I shoulda figured! Come on in.”

Souji stepped into the apartment, holding the flowers awkwardly. 

“I’m Ryuji, by the way. You can put your gift down over there. The birthday girl is getting ready.”

Souji nodded. “Ah, I’m Souji Seta. Nice to meet you.”

Ryuji just shrugged. “I’ve gotta go check on the girls, but uh, make yourself at home I guess. Rise should be out soon.” 

Souji watched him walk away, and then a little awkwardly put the bouquet on a table that was overflowing with gifts. His simple array of daffodils seemed very out of place.

He scanned the room he was in. It was filled with people that Souji supposed must be college students. No one else had seemed to take notice of Souji, so he sat gingerly at a chair set by the gifts.

The blond guy, Ryuji, had disappeared. Souji wondered how Rise knew these people. But then again, they both knew better than anyone not to judge someone by appearance only. Even if Ryuji looked like a delinquent.

A few of the girls chatting in front of Souji moved to the side, and he could make out the other room. There were even more people, and what looked like a snack table set up by the couch. And on the couch sat Yosuke.

His arm was loosely around another guy with frizzy black hair. Yosuke’s hair was different, too. Longer. Still dyed, but a darker brown this time. He seemed at ease. These must be his friends, too.

Souji swallowed thickly. He was sure he looked like a madman, just staring like that. 

The black haired guy seemed to notice. Souji tried not to flush, and tilted his head in greeting. The other guy’s expression was unreadable. Souji watched as he turned back to Yosuke and whispered something in his ear.

Suddenly, Yosuke’s relaxed pose disappeared and he sat upright. He smacked the guy on the arm, his whole face tomato red. The guy just laughed, patted Yosuke on the side and then sidled off the couch. Souji didn’t bother to look where he went, he could only see Yosuke.

Yosuke looked. . . good. Souji couldn’t deny it. While Yosuke had never been bad looking, the Yosuke that Souji had known always had the feeling of being uncomfortable in his own skin. Even when he was putting on a face of bravado, Souji had always known it would take one wrong word to make Yosuke crumple like a puppet. Delicate, almost. Self-conscious. Those weren’t the nicest things to think about your ex-best friend, but they had been true.

This Yosuke didn’t look like that at all. Even clearly embarrassed, Souji couldn’t detect the shame that would have emanated off his body five years previously. He looked comfortable, like he was finally wearing jeans that fit. 

Souji didn’t have time to make his gaze less obvious, because now Yosuke was looking right at him. He could only stare as his expression went from totally blank, to confused, to finally something like joy.

Yosuke sprang off of the couch, tripping over someone’s drink that was set on the floor beside him. Souji barely had time to stand up from his chair before Yosuke was knocking the wind out of him. 

It had been five years and then some since he’d been hugged like this. Not even Rise’s embrace from earlier that day compared. Yosuke clung to him like his life depended on it, like he was a drowning man rescued. Souji held on equally hard, unsure still that this was really happening.

All too soon, Yosuke let go. Souji was surprised to see that his eyes were completely dry. He had an unplaceable expression on his face, one that Souji had never seen before. He’d grown into his nose. He was still too skinny, but he looked less like a kicked puppy fending for scraps. Now he just looked. . . Fashionable, Souji supposed. Yosuke’s ears were pierced. 

“Partner?” Yosuke said, so quiet Souji could barely hear him.

Souji nodded, and to his surprise felt tears welling up in his eyes. He took a deep breath, meaning to answer, but instead he felt himself collapse back into Yosuke and letting out a sob.

Souji couldn’t hear the rest of the room around them, although he was sure they were staring. He could only feel the solid form of Yosuke, his steady heartbeat, his hands on Souji’s back.

 

*******

 

The two of them moved into a different room, someone’s bedroom by the looks of it. Souji sat on a bed, wiping his face with the sleeve of his button-up shirt. Yosuke hovered in front of him.

“I’m sorry about that.” Souji said, rubbing his eyelids with his fingertips. “I don’t know what that was.”

Yosuke huffed out a laugh. “Um, no, I mean, I get it.” 

Souji let out a laugh at that, and Yosuke sat down beside him. 

“It was just. . . um. Very overwhelming, I guess. It’s been a while.” He looked over to see Yosuke’s expression, and found him smiling gently at him. 

“Yeah.” Yosuke said. “It has.” He paused, then reached out tenderly to brush at Souji’s hair. “You look the same, mostly. New glasses. No bangs.”

“You look so different.” Souji said, wishing for a moment he’d filtered that out. He felt so raw, it was hard for him to think. He supposed he owed it to Yosuke to say anything. 

Yosuke looked down self-consciously. “I guess I do, huh.”

Souji continued to stare. Yosuke looked up and met his eyes.

“So are you gonna tell me what the hell you’re doing here?” He said, a smile in his eyes.

Souji barked out a laugh. “Well. I ran into Rise this morning, sort of randomly.”

Yosuke rolled his eyes. “Say no more. . . Come to think of it, this smells like one of her schemes. Let me guess, she forced you to come here and surprise me?”

“Pretty much.” Souji said. He wiped one last time at his face. He hated crying.

Leaning back on his hands, Yosuke did a low whistle. “Man, if I’d have known. . . I would have flipped. Maybe Rise made the right call in not telling me.”

Souji wondered what he meant by that, but didn’t think he had the right to ask any more. The silence stretched between them. Souji was at a loss.

Lucky for him, just then the door opened. The black haired guy from before stepped in, drink in hand.

“There you are, Yosuke. Guy I know nothing about. Rise’s calling for you. Should I tell her where you are, or. . .?”

Souji knew he was the one who’d caused a scene, so he didn’t know why Yosuke flushed to his ears and scrambled off the bed. 

“Rise! I’ll find her right now!” He said breathlessly, already on his way out the door.

Black haired guy held out hand. “Akira Kurusu.”

Souji nodded. “Souji Seta.”

Akira was blank in an unnerving way. Souji got told that a lot, but he’d never seen it himself. Seeing Akira helped that to make sense. He seemed like someone who knew things and never spilled a word about them. He got the impression, too, that as he was sizing Akira up, Akira was doing the same to him. 

After a moment, Akira nodded and left the room. Souji inhaled and followed soon after.

The party had gotten even more busy. Taking a look around, Souji noticed the details of the room. Everything was beautiful and new, and definitely not what he’d have expected of students. Was this Rise’s house? But she would have said. Despite classy decor, there were a few things that seemed out of place. Posters for punk bands on the wall, strings of lights that were half broken. 

He heard raised voices from around the corner, and followed them to the source.

“I can’t believe you would just do that! You  _ know _ how I --” That was Yosuke, jabbing a finger at Rise shoulder. 

“Yes!” And there was Rise. “I do know, and that’s why! God, you’re such an idiot! I knew you would be like this.”

“I don’t know how me not wanting to be blindsided is me being an idiot, but okay.”

Souji cleared his throat and smiled. Yosuke and Rise looked at him in the entrance to the kitchen with twin expressions of surprise.

Rise quickly put on a friendly face and rushed over. “Souji! I’m so sorry, I didn’t know you would. . .”

He quickly smiled. “Rise, please don’t worry. It’s okay.” 

Before Souji could properly notice, Yosuke had snuck out of the room. He tried not to frown.

“He’ll come around. Sorry, he’s a bit… rattled.” Rise said, still a mind reader after all. 

Souji nodded. He got it, really. Whatever was going on. . . Now they were together again, and Souji could work it out with Yosuke on their own time. Not in a room full of strangers.

Rise linked her arm with his and pat his shoulder. “Come on, let’s introduce you to some people.”

Souji let himself be swept along into the sea of unfamiliar faces.

 


End file.
